Pole-top pin



IR. R. PliTTMAN POLE TOP PIN rLEmme l, l937.

Filed May 20, 1955 BNVENTOR BYQQ/ WWW ATTORNEY Patented June 1, 1937 UNITED STATES minar orifice 2 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for supporting overhead electrical conductors on poles, and particularly to yan insulator pin adapted to be attached to the top of a pole.

5 While pole-top pins have been extensively used for many years, the problem of Stringing and placing conductors on pole lines embodying them has heretofore presented some diiiiculty because of the absence of any provision for Supporting the conductor nearthe insulator on which it is finally tied. Prior to this time various temporary expedients have been necessary in Stringing and tensioning the usual long lengths oi wires, without which the wires become entangled and damaged. Among Such expedients are pulleys, spools,

and similar devices which are temporarily attached to the pole, the use of which results in some expense and inconvenience.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of means in a pole-top pin for facilitating the Stringing and placing of overhead conductors on a line of poles, through the embodiment in the pin of a simple and inexpensive means for supporting the conductor to be carried by the pin at a point near its nal intended position during the Stringing process.

Another object is to provide a pole-top pin in which an insulator may be mounted on an insulating member, thus increasing the total insulation to ground of a conductor carried by the insulator, but at the same time to provide sparkgap protection of the insulating member from damage by lightning, such protection resulting from the position, arrangement and material of a wire-Stringing member.

With these and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the novel combination and construction of the device.

In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a front elevational View of the device; Fig. 2 is a side elevational View; Fig. 3 illustrates, by means of a front elevational view, the device in place on a pole top; and Fig, 4 shows the manner in which the device is to be used in Stringing wires.

Referring in detail to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the vertically extending body portion l0, of some suitable sheet metal, is provided at the upper end with a socket for securing the insulator carrying means I2, the latter projecting above the top of the pole 20. The latter is preferably of Some insulating material in order to increase the insulation between the conductor I9 and the metal body portion I0, and is here illustrated as a wood pin.

The screw I3 locks the wood pin in place in the above-mentioned socket. Substantially the lower one-half of the body portion I has the upper portion thereof formed in the shape of a channel, and the lower end cut away to provide a flat portion. A first opening I4 extends through the base of the channel section, and a second opening i5 through the at portion, these openings being provided for the purpose of attaching the pin to the pole 20 by means of the fasteners Il and I8, as shown in Fig. 3. The insulator It may be at- 10 tached to the upper end of the insulator carrying member I2 in the usual manner, that is, by cooperating threads on the respective members.

The pole-top pin just described is formed of parts of well known construction used in such 15 devices, and they do not in themselves constitute the present invention.

Adjacent the upper end of the socket of the body portion I0, and immediately below the insulator carrying member I2, is rigidly secured, as 20 by welding, the metal wire Stringing member il. The latter extends first outwardly and then upwardly above the pole-top toward the lower edge of the insulator I6, so as to provide a spark gap between the respective members in shunt circuit 25 relation with the insulator carrying member I2, for the purpose of preventing the latter from carrying lightning currents from the conductor to the metal body portion I0. The upper end of the wire Stringing member I I must necessarily be so positioned that the weakest electrical path from the conductor I9 to the body portion Il] is over the air gap between the outer lower surface of insulator I6 and the upper end of the wire Stringing member II instead of over the alternate 35 path across the bottom of the insulator I6 and through the wood member I2, and thence through the ground wire 2| to the ground 22.

The use of the wood insulator carrying member I2 is an inexpensive means of considerably in- 40 creasing the insulation between the conductor I9 and the metal body portion I0. The positioning of the metal wire Stringing member Il in such a way as to protect the member I2 from shattering due to lightning removes the objection to this 4,5 practice which has heretofore prevented its general use.

Fig. 4 illustrates a Step in the wire Stringing process. The conductor I9 has been laid in the wire Stringing member Il preparatory to pulling 50 the former to nal sag and tension, and during the tensioning process is confined between the outer surface of the insulator carrying member I2 and the upwardly extending portion of the wire Stringing member l I. The upper or inner 55 surface of the wire Stringing member Il is rounded as shown by the broken line in Fig. 2, so that the usual soft metallic conductors, such as copper and aluminum, may be pulled thereover without damage to them. After the wire I9 has been pulled to nal sag and tension, it is lifted from the wire Stringing member I I, and tied to the top of the insulator I6 in the usual manner.

Other embodiments of the invention may appear from the one specically described and illustrated herein, but it is to be understood that my invention will be limited only by the appended claims and the prior art.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a metal pole-top pin having insulating means for supporting a conductor above the top of a pole, of a wire-stringing member of conducting material secured to said pin adjacent the upper portion thereof and extending outwardly and upwardly above the top of the pole, the upper end of said member being positioned so that the weakest electrical path from the conductor to the pin is through said Wire-Stringing member.

2` In a metal pole top pin for supporting an overhead conductor over the top of a wood pole, openings extending through the lower portion of said pin, fasteners extending through said openings and into said pole in a direction substantially parallel to the overhead conductor, a metal wire Stringing member secured to said pin at a point above the top of said pole, said wire Stringing member extending rst outwardly in a direction normal to said overhead conductor but not beyond the upwardly projected surface of said pole, and thence upwardly for retaining said conductor in a position over the top of said pole and in the space between said pin and the upwardly extending portion of said wire Stringing member.

RALPH R. PITTMAN. 

